Chapter 4
6 November 1976
It was morning, but all of his friends were still in the dorm, it wasn’t early enough for breakfast.
The full moon was coming up and Remus would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. Well, he was more than nervous, it was the fact that people had been spending the full moon with him that got him into this mess in the first place.
Remus trusted Regulus though, he was surprised about how much he trusted him, especially considering they had only known each other for a few months. If someone had told him a year ago that he fell out with all of his friends, and is now instead friends with Regulus Black, he would have told them they were insane. But here we are.
“Uh Remus?” a voice sounded from outside the curtains, James, Remus recognized.
“What” he replied shortly.
His bed curtain was carefully pulled to the side.
“So it’s the full moon tonight”
“I know”
“Right, well um, we were wondering if you wanted us to come with you? You were in the hospital wing for a while after the last one” James spoke softly, it infuriated Remus.
“No, I’ll be fine”
“No, you won’t be fine Remus!” Sirius cried from the other side of the room.
“I don't want or need your help!”
“Why not?! You’ll hurt yourself!”
At this point, James and Peter didn’t know whether or not they should get involved in this argument, but it was becoming increasingly more heated.
“I was fine before I met you guys, and I’ll be fine afterwards”
“But you weren’t fine!”
“You’re right! You made things a whole lot worse for me”
Things seemed to fall to a stunned silence, Sirius looked like he had just been slapped, Remus didn’t feel bad. He didn’t.
“Leave me alone” was all Remus said before storming out of the dorm.
Remus didn’t know why that bothered him so much, it was a sign that they cared he supposed. And he had been doing so much better, they were nowhere near the level they were at before, but he had spoken to them about things. Simple things, like the weather, or lessons.
Remus hated that they always acted like they knew better than him about his condition. He knew that they had done all of that research before becoming animagi, he also knew that they had actually seen him transform, something that had likely never been done before, at least not up so close. But he was the one who had lived it, he was the one that it affected.
Regulus would probably tell him that he shouldn’t have gotten so angry, even though Regulus is a total hypocrite who would have probably done the same thing. Him and Regulus were very similar, they seemed to understand each other, against all odds.
Remus sort of floated through the day, not ever really lifting his eyes from the ground. This happened sometimes, when he needed to think, especially when it was near the full moon. His teachers were told to make allowances for him around it, so it wasn’t really a problem.
His friends tried to speak to him a few times that day, James once, and Lilly a few more. She was probably told what happened, or at least a filtered version of it. Remus thought that she probably knew about him being a werewolf, but she definitely did not know about the animagus thing.
Remus skipped lunch, and dinner, he always felt sick on the day before anyway, but it was mainly an excuse to avoid any interactions with his friends.
Remus knew that his avoidance methods were unhealthy, both Lily and Regulus had told him so, but his head could only handle so much.
At the right time, Remus arrived at the hospital wing, as usual. He didn’t know how Regulus was planning on showing up, when he asked about it, all he received was a cryptic ‘you’ll see’, so he supposed that he would have to wait.
After he had been dropped off by madame Pomfrey, who gave him many reassurances that he would be alright, as usual, he just sat and waited. It was nearing the time and he was becoming increasingly more nervous.
“Meow”
Remus’ head snapped up, on the ledge, formed by a splintered bit of wood, there was a small black cat, with a set of very familiar grey eyes staring into his soul.
“Well aren’t you adorable” Remus cooed.
He didn’t know whether cats could roll their eyes or not, but this one definitely could, a very Regulus thing for him to do.
“I think it’s going to be happening soon, have you got your wand?”
The cat’s paw nudged the space next to it, Remus assumed that was a yes.
—-
Regulus wasn’t scared about the full moon, he knew it would work out okay, Remus was, of course, very nervous about the whole thing, but that was just how Remus was.
Around an hour before the sunset, Regulus transformed into a cat and snuck into the whomping willow, deciding to just get there earlier, so that he could avoid any locks placed by Pomfrey.
Time passes differently when he’s in cat form, boredom doesn’t take over so easily. As a cat, Regulus could just stare at a wall for hours on end.
When Remus arrives, he looks like a mess, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary.
10 minutes later, Remus was transforming, and wow. Regulus could understand why he hated the full moon so much, just based on what Remus had told him. But when Regulus saw that, he didn’t know how Remus got out of bed in the morning, knowing that every month, he would have to go through that.
Eventually though, the screaming stopped, and a giant, golden wolf stared up at him. Regulus purred, and the wolf was enthralled.
All night, the cat and the wolf just ran around the shack, playing. Regulus didn’t think that it would be that easy. Especially because of the ongoing feud between cats and dogs, but they instantly got along.
By the time sunrise came, Remus started screaming and writhing around in pain. Regulus wished he could help more, but Remus had insisted he stay as an animal until everything was completely done.
Remus collapsed on the floor, exhausted, but not one scrape on him. Regulus was truly relieved. Still as a cat, Reglus ran over to him, figuring that it would be easier to hide as a cat if Pomfrey came in.
“Hey” Remus slurred, sleepily looking at him.
“Thankyou” he whispered, before promptly passing out.
—-
When Remus woke again, he was in the hospital wing, Regulus was in the chair next to him, reading quietly.
“Oh you’re awake!”
“Yeah, I am,” Remus replied tiredly.
“Are you alright?”
“I’ve been worse,” Remus mumbled, smiling.
“Good”
Remus shuffled across the bed, leaving room for Regulus, who quickly sat next to him.
“It looked painful”
“Yeah, it is, Poppy told me it can be as bad as the crucio curse”
“And you go through that twice a month”
“I’m used to it”
“Wow”
“I’ve been crucioed before” Regulus said after a minute, barely over a whisper.
“Sirius said-”
“-Well Sirius left,” Regulus snapped.
“I’m sorry”
“I’m okay”
“Still, that shouldn’t have happened to you”
“I’m used to it”
They smiled sad, small smiles at each other.
Remus knew then why he trusted Regulus so much.